


three by three

by havisham



Series: havisham's SASO 2017 works collection [44]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Ficlet Collection, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 17:17:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11513886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havisham/pseuds/havisham
Summary: This is a collection of ficlets written for SASO featuring Kuroko, Kagami and Aomine and various combinations of all three --too short to be posted as is, but too long to be ignored entirely. Summaries and prompts are in the chapter notes.





	1. a very strong case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for SASO 2017 Bonus Round 4: Quotes, for [the prompt:](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/23665.html?thread=13967729#cmt13967729) Aomine/Kuroko/Kagami, "Now, just because someone sees, you know, two naked people asleep in bed together, it doesn't necessarily prove sex was involved. It does, however, make for a very strong case." – Velvet Goldmine (1998)

At first Taiga didn’t understand what he was seeing -- a half-naked Kuroko on Aomine’s lap, his mouth pressed against Aomine’s neck and Aomine, eyes wild and grinning like he’d won the big one. He must’ve choked aloud, because suddenly two pairs of blue eyes, dramatically different from each other, were trained on him. 

“Ah, Kagami-kun,” Kuroko said, looking a little surprised. “I thought you’d be shopping a little longer.” 

“What’s with you barging into people’s rooms without knocking?” Aomine said, with a giant yawn.

“That’s -- this is my room, you asshole!” 

“Ah?” Aomine elbowed Kuroko in the ribs, nearly knocking him over. “Tetsu, you dog.” 

Kuroko looked contrite. But not quite sorry. 

*

This was bad. Taiga knew that, in theory at least, he was Kuroko’s friend and should be happy if he found someone that made him happy, even if that person was annoyingly arrogant person like Aomine. And he could even forgive them for -- what they’d done in his bed, after they’d stripped it down and laundered the sheets and everything. It was hard to find a time and place for your boyfriend if you didn’t live alone, he supposed. Even so, he hoped next time they’d just go to a hotel.

Actually, the thing that bothered Taiga the most was the nagging feeling that he was supposed to be the one for Kuroko. But he’d waited too long to act and Kuroko had chose someone else.

*

“You’re really stupid, you know that?” Aomine said, collapsing onto the bench beside Taiga with a heaving sigh. Taiga pushed aside the wet towel that had been covering his head to glare at Aomine, who grinned back at him like he had in Taiga’s bed and it was so unfair -- 

Taiga felt a weird feeling in his stomach, like it was trying to escape to his heart. “I gotta go home,” he said, getting up. “I have an upset stomach. Tell Kuroko I can’t do dinner tonight.” 

“Oi!” Aomine protested as he escaped from the street basketball court. “But you promised! I know where you live, Bakagami!” 

*

Taiga had come home and stripped and taken a shower. His back had felt so hot that he thought it must have been like those old fashioned blacksmiths making a sword -- plunging red hot iron into a barrel of water. Even lying under the AC didn’t seem to help calm him -- although he did begin to sneeze because of his wet hair. 

He wasn’t surprised to hear his door ring, nor, after opening it, to see Kuroko and Aomine standing there, Aomine’s arm slung casually over Kuroko’s shoulder. 

“Yo,” Aomine said, “are you going to let us in?” 

“Kagami-kun,” Kuroko said hesitantly. “We wanted to ask you something…” 

“Um, yeah. I want to,” Taiga said, blushing. “I mean, come in.”


	2. pizza for two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for SASO 2017 Bonus Round 4: Quotes, for [the prompt:](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/23665.html?thread=13812849#cmt13812849) AoKaga, "You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six." - Yogi Berra

The most terrifying thing about Kagami was the sheer amount of food he could put away. Aomine supposed he should be used to this kind of thing by now, having been teammates with Murasakibara, but every time he had dinner with Kagami, he was shocked anew. 

He tried to keep up, of course, his pride would accept nothing less, but the true was that in this instance -- and only in this instance -- Kagami and his bottomless stomach had Aomine thoroughly beat. 

Take tonight as an example: there had been a Touou-Seirin practice game in the evening and Aomine had decided to stick around afterwards to challenge Kagami one-on-one. And even though he was obviously exhausted, bathed in sweat and panting like a dog (not that Aomine noticed all of these things, he definitely didn't) Kagami had smiled brightly and agreed. 

“You really want to get beat again, huh, Aomine?” 

Aomine snorted. “Don't flatter yourself. If I hadn't missed the first half, you'd be in the ground by now.” 

“Huh? That so, idiot? Let's go then.” 

“Aomine-kun, Kagami-kun,” said a quiet voice near Aomine’s elbow. Kuroko straightened up and looked at both them with an expressionless face which, nonetheless, seemed pretty disapproving. “The rest of the team has opted to go for dinner. Will you two come along?” 

“Can't, Tetsu,” Aomine said breezily, throwing an arm over Kagami’s shoulder. “I have to show this guy what it's like to so thoroughly beaten that only his mom would be able to love him.” 

There was a short silence which was only interrupted by the very loud rumble of Kagami’s stomach. He slipped away from Aomine’s grasp and said, eyes trained on the ground, that he was hungry after all. 

Aomine was left, wondering what happened when Kuroko spoke again, spooking him. 

“Aomine-kun, please try to be less insensitive.” 

“Ah! Tetsu, when did you come back here?” 

“I never left. Kagami-kun lost his mother at a young age, so your childish insults hit a sore spot with him.” 

“Oh,” Aomine said, his good mood rapidly deflating. “I didn't know that.” 

“Well,” Kuroko said, “now you do.” 

*

Aomine watched Kagami take two halves of a pizza, sandwich the pieces together and then take a big bite. He had no idea how Kagami could do it, or how his stomach didn't instantly burst open when he did. 

“Buy me another pizza,” he ordered Sakurai, who was cowering beside him. 

“I'm sorry! I'm sorry! … But Wakamatsu-senpai we should be going!” 

“Another pizza, Sakurai! And get them to deliver it to Kagami’s table. You can go then.” 

Sakurai made suffering faces at him, but Aomine ignored him. And soon enough, he slid into Kagami’s booth and offered him his best, most winning smile. Kagami looked at him like he would bite him. 

“Sorry about your dead mom, Kagami,” Aomine said, still smiling. “Do you want more pizza?” 

“I’ve already had two.” 

“Slices?” 

“Pizzas,” Kagami said. He seemed to come to a decision -- to forgive Aomine, it seemed. He said, “We’ll have to cut it into four pieces, I’m not hungry enough for six.”


	3. we were emergencies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for SASO 2017 Bonus Round 4: Quotes, for [the prompt:](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/23665.html?thread=14030961#cmt14030961) Kagami/Kuroko, 
> 
> But hearts don’t break,  
> y’all,  
> they bruise and get better.  
> We were never tragedies.  
> We were emergencies.  
> You call 9 – 1 – 1.  
> Tell them I’m having a fantastic time.
> 
> \- Buddy Wakefield, "We Were Emergencies"

Taiga sometimes thought back to the first time he met Kuroko, how easy it had been to dismiss him at a glance as someone who couldn’t possibly teach him anything about basketball or anything else. But while Taiga could be arrogant, he wasn’t stupid -- okay, despite his test results -- he wasn’t stupid about people. His instincts were good. Kuroko was good. Good for him, good for the team. 

It took him a long time to realize that he loved Kuroko -- until the beginning of their third year in high school, in fact -- but in the end, he got there. Then he immediately spilled his guts out to him in the middle of dinner at Maji Burger. 

Kuroko stopped what he was doing -- sipping a vanilla shake -- and considered Taiga’s words. “No,” he said. “I’m sorry Kagami-kun, but I cannot accept your feelings.” 

“Kuroko, you bastard! Why not?” 

“Because you’re not being sincere,” was Kuroko’s reply, and then he disappeared from their table, leaving Taiga still sitting there, almost too stunned to finish his pile of burgers. 

*

His heart didn’t break.

Of course it didn’t break, hearts didn’t do that. They bruised but then got better. He still played with Kuroko on the team, they still hung out after school. Taiga tried to ignore the way Kise would throw his arms around Kuroko’s shoulder when he came over to play, or the way Aomine’s eyes lingered on the vulnerable curve of Kuroko’s neck. 

Jealousy wasn’t cool at all, and Taiga didn’t feel that way. If he should kick Kise’s ass in the game later, annihilate Aomine later on -- that wasn’t jealousy. That was sublimating his feelings into basketball and it was very healthy. 

*

“Kagami-kun, are you going back to America after high school?” 

It was so hot that Taiga’s vision blurred a little bit and he couldn’t quite make out Kuroko’s shape against the haze of the hot afternoon sun. He wiped off the veil of sweat that threatened to blind him and sat down on the ground in the less than adequate shade. When he realized Kuroko was still there, waiting for his answer, Taiga nodded. 

“Probably. I miss L.A. a lot, and I wouldn’t mind playing college ball in the States either. Why? Do you want to follow me there, Kuroko?” He said the last part teasingly, smiling up at Kuroko’s shadow that now loomed over him. Kuroko was watching him, his eyes huge and luminous. 

“I don’t want to lose Kagami-kun,” Kuroko said. 

“Ah? Does that mean you’re in love with me after all, Kuroko?” 

“... Even if he is very stupid.” 

Taiga laughed and felt Kuroko press a cool, wet towel against his hot forehead. Bliss.


End file.
